Filthy little house elf
by Ralinde
Summary: He thought it was fun. She was scared. And it all went wrong. Warning: sibling cruelty, psychological abuse, character death. Written for The Black Family Tree competition and The Hogwarts' games, women's tennis - one shot about a member of the Black family.


_A/N: The Sirius in this story is of course not our beloved Marauder, but Sirius I. However, he didn't figure on the character list, so I decided to pick 'Sirius B.' rather than 'OC'. _

_This was written for _The Black Family Tree Competition_ and _The Hogwarts' games, women's tennis_ - one shot about a member of the Black family. It was also written for Owluvr's _Character Diversity Boot Camp Challenge_, with the prompt 'humiliation' (humilate) and for Hedwig Black's _Minor Character Boot Camp Challenge_ with the prompt 'afraid'._

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"You have to do as I say. You're just a filthy little house elf!"

The figure of her oldest brother towered over her. She sobbed. He frightened her, seeing as he was eight and rather tall for his age and she was only three.

"Don't you cry! House elves aren't allowed to cry!" He jerked her by the hair and she yelled in pain. "You're just disgusting. Now clean my room like a good little house elf." He sank back on his bed while she cowered in the filthy linen cloth he had given her to wear. Her own frock lay abandoned on the floor.

To him, it was all just a game. He copied their father's behaviour towards the numerous house elves that occupied the household. His littlest sister was about the same size as a house elf and just as annoying. He really hadn't wanted another sister, but he figured she could make herself useful by cleaning his room. It saved him the trouble of having to do it himself, plus it was fun to watch the usually picture perfect toddler scurry around in rags instead of the usual frocks.

He was always supposed to be the wisest so whenever he was in a fight with either Phineas or Isla – most of his fights were with Phineas though – he was always the one who got the blame. Whereas Elladora, precious little Elladora, was their parents' favourite and could do no wrong.

That was why he had to be careful. He never dressed her up as a house elf whenever their parents were home. And he made sure to make her so afraid of him that she would never tell. "It's our little secret," he whispered time and again, whenever her tiny hands picked up toys he no longer cared for but threw around for the sheer fun of watching her stowing them again.

"Sirius, I don't like this game," she had once complained.

"I don't care. House elves aren't allowed an opinion of their own." He had dragged her by the hair across the room, ignoring her frightened cries to make him stop. He had smacked her against the cupboard. After all, that's what you did with disobedient house elves, right? He had seen it multiple times whenever his father disciplined an unruly house elf. House elves didn't have feelings and the only way to teach them obedience was the hard way.

Elladora quickly learned not to cry or go against her brother. She became a quiet, scared little toddler, praised for her 'good behaviour' by adults to whom a three-year-old sitting silent for hours was the epitome of a good education. She dreaded the days her parents were out, because then she would be at the mercy of her eldest brother. He never included Phineas or Isla in his 'games'. Their little secret.

Elladora didn't know why house elves existed – though the sole purpose of their existence was probably to clean houses – but she started to hate the little buggers with all her heart, for if there existed no such things as house elves, Sirius would never have come up with this cruel game of humiliation. It was all their fault.

One day, when their parents were out, Sirius was in a particularly foul mood. He'd gotten house arrest for picking a fight with her, so it was only natural he blamed it all on her. As the babysitter took Phineas and Isla for a walk, he was to remain indoors. He eyed his kid sister menacingly and the little girl whimpered under his scrutinizing gaze. It was about time she finally learnt her lesson, he thought. He couldn't let a little house elf such as she was determine his life. This time, cleaning his room in rags just wouldn't do. No, this time, more desperate measures were needed to imprint the message in the house elf's mind.

His mind wandered to the dark cabinet in the attic. Their parents had always forbidden them to go up there, so really, what better place was there to teach an annoying little sibling a lesson?

Her handed her the filthy rag and she put it on without protesting. She knew protesting would only make things worse. It would be better if she just did as Sirius wanted, the sooner it would be over. But he didn't have her clean his room, not this time. He took her up to the attic and told her to polish the inside of a dark cabinet with the very cloth she was wearing.

Elladora shivered. There was something evil inside that cabinet; something pulsating waves of evilness and it scared her. It scared her more than her brother.

"I don't want to, Sirius. I'm scared."

"No whining, petty little house elf. Haven't you learnt by now? Disobedient house elves need to be disciplined." He pushed her inside the cabinet and slammed the door shut.

She immediately started screaming. It was a high-pitched terrified scream of utter terror that went on and on, piercing his ears. He wished she would just shut up, but when she did, it was so sudden that he got a little worried. _She couldn't have _died_ in there, could she? Father and mother would never forgive him if she had._ Carefully, he opened the door of the cabinet. The toddler dressed as a house elf sat whimpering in a corner, tears streaming down her face but not uttering a single word. Her eyes looked accusingly at Sirius and for the first time it dawned on him that maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. Maybe, just maybe, little sisters weren't the same as house elves, even if they were equally annoying. He extended a hand, which she didn't take. Finally, he saw no other way than to drag her out by force. He promised himself he would keep to having her clean his room from now on. There really was no harm in _that_.

As he dragged the limp toddler out of the cabinet, his elbow knocked over a jar with a dark pulsating liquid in it. The jar broke and the liquid enveloped Sirius. This time, he was the one to scream in agony. Elladora crawled off the attic, not looking back at her brother, whose agonizing screams slowly subsided into nothingness.

Elladora had been a quiet toddler, but after the dead of her brother she withdrew completely within herself. She barely spoke to anyone. People assumed it was the shock and that she had probably witnessed something. No one knew why the two of them had been up at the attic, just as no one knew the true course of events. She grew up with one thing pierced into her mind: that she really, really hated house elves.

The house she bought for herself was to big for her to maintain on her own, so she had no other choice but to have some house elves doing the cleaning. She treated them the way they deserved, calling them names and having them hurt themselves whenever she found they were disobedient. Which was really almost all the time. When Magpie, the oldest house elf, dropped the tea platters, Elladora was beyond herself with rage. _How dared she just make fun of her like that! _A red veil went over her eyes and the next thing she knew, Magpie's head was no longer connected to the rest of her body. She threw the body in the dustbin and was about to do the same with the head, when an idea struck her. She would pin it to the wall as a reminder to the other house elves that they were nothing more than the dirt underneath her shoes.

The next day, one of the other house elves trembling required her attention.

"Mistress?" He waited for her to nod before he continued. "When I die, would Mistress put my head up there as well?"

She didn't respond, but instead she burst out in laughter. _Can you believe that? The little buggers actually thought it an honour to have their head up a wall!_

"Dozy is sorry Mistress. Dozy will now iron his hands for disturbing his Mistress."

The little elf made to leave, but she stopped him. "I will put your head up when you're to old to carry a tea tray."

"Really?" The elf's eyes lit up. "Thank you Mistress. Dozy is very thankful." He made a bow so low that his nose touched the ground and started to retreat from the room.

"Oh Dozy?"

"Yes Mistress?"

"Go iron your hands anyway. Filthy little house elves such as yourself really should learn that I don't accept disobedience."


End file.
